Han officials

Chapter 74 The War of Ideas

The debate between Guo Yuan and Bing Yuan can be summed up in four words:
War of words!

But compared to Bing Yuan, Guo Yuan's accumulation and talent are still somewhat lacking.

You should know that Bing Yuan would be able to debate directly with his teacher Zheng Xuan in the future.

During the Cao Wei period, people even referred to the "Bing and Zheng schools" in Qi and Lu, and compared the two men.

So under Bing Yuan's sharp attack, Bian Jingguoyuan finally showed signs of decline this time.

……

I don’t know how long it took, but I was in Xiuwen Hall.

Looking at Guo Yuan, whose face was a little pale, Bing Yuan said calmly, "Who do you think is better, your knowledge or Confucius's?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Yuan naturally shook his head without hesitation.

"I might as well!"

However, as soon as he said this, Bing Yuan's eyes suddenly narrowed, and his true intentions were revealed.

"Your knowledge is not as good as Confucius's, so how can you judge the right and wrong of the sages?"

"Even though the Yili contains some errors, it is a descendant of Confucius and has been passed down in an orderly manner. Is the Zhouguanli also comparable?"

"The Zhouguanli was hidden in the imperial palace's secret chambers for many years. Why was it discovered by Liu Xin and his son alone?"

"Who recorded it? Who kept it? Who can verify it?"

"Without any evidence, what basis can the Zhouguanli be based on?"

Bing Yuan's continuous questioning was like a sword shooting towards Guo Yuan.

Although there was no wind, Guo Yuan felt a biting chill on his back, as if he was in the midst of a raging sea, and was about to fall.

But even though he was sweating profusely, his face was pale and he gritted his teeth and said:

"Things in the world are what they are, and what they are not. This is true for everything, from heaven to earth, from ancient times to the present, and cannot be changed. If there is something wrong with what Confucius said, then it is also true. How can we force it to be true?"

It has to be said that Guo Yuan may not be as good as Bing Yuan in classics, but his ambition is extraordinary.

Even though many Liaodong Confucian scholars were watching him, he remained firm and said, "If it goes against the principles of Heaven, even if it comes from Confucius, I dare not accept it as true! If it conforms to human ethics, even if it comes from the common people, I dare not accept it as false!"

Guo Yuan said this not because he was crazy, but because he was adhering to the principles of his master.

The biggest difference between Zheng Xuan's school and the New Text Confucianism is actually about the positioning of Confucius.

In the theory of Modern Confucianism, Confucius is a sacred figure who established laws for future generations.

Therefore, this group of great Confucian scholars would call Confucius the Su Wang appointed by Heaven. It was when his mother was outing at the slope of Daze that she dreamed of the Black Emperor inviting her to a banquet. After they had intercourse in the dream, she felt inspired and gave birth to Confucius in the empty mulberry tree.

Because according to the mythological tradition of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all gods were born to their mothers and the Emperor of Heaven.

However, the great Confucian scholars of Zheng Xuan's school of ancient Chinese classics did not think so.

Although they all respected Confucius, they considered him the "first teacher".

He is just a pioneer and leader with great wisdom!
Although Confucius achieved great success, he was not omniscient and everything he said was correct.

This is also what gave rise to the second disagreement between the two factions:

That is, Modern Text Confucianism believes that the Six Classics were all written by Confucius;
The ancient text school of Confucianism believes that the Six Classics are ancient texts that were only edited and compiled by Confucius. Confucius' contribution lies in "transmitting but not creating", inheriting and promoting ancient learning.

Why do the two sides have such different attitudes?
The reason is simple! It all stems from the different positions of the two sides.

Different standpoints naturally lead to different attitudes of modern and ancient texts towards the Six Classics.

The reason why the New Text Confucianism holds this view is because Confucius "must" be a Su Wang.

Because as long as Confucius is divine, his words are divine oracles, and therefore ordinary beings naturally have no right to tamper with them.

After all, saints are omniscient, and ordinary people should obey what they say even if they don’t understand it, rather than tamper with it.

If the actions of ordinary people contradict what Confucius said, it must be that the ordinary people did not do something well, not that Confucius was wrong. After all, the saint is omniscient and naturally cannot be wrong.

According to this logic, modern Confucianism naturally believes that the Six Classics were all written by Confucius.

After all, only the Six Classics are the words of sages, and ordinary people have no right to tamper with them.

In this way, the right to interpret the classics of the sages, which is the family law of Confucianism, can naturally be passed down from generation to generation.

The many Confucian families that mastered the modern Confucian classics and followed the teachings of their teachers could maintain this tradition for generations.

If their ideas were truly realized, then this family tradition would be even more precious than the imperial tradition.

Even if they have conflicts with each other, they are only superficial disputes and do not hurt the fundamentals.

But once the ancient classics gain power, their foundation will completely collapse.

After all, since Confucius was the King of Su and the Six Classics were all written by Confucius, their respective rights to interpret Confucian classics were the most authoritative, and no one could overturn them within the existing academic framework.

But if Zheng Xuan's ideas became popular in the world, then the two points that "Confucius is the King of Virtue" and "All the Six Classics were written by Confucius" would inevitably be denied, and they would naturally lose their eternal foundation.

It is precisely because of this that they do not even admit that the current Five Classics have flaws.

Zheng Xuan and other great scholars of ancient literature believed that the Five Classics today were remnants of the Qin fire and that their transmission contained many omissions.

However, since the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the Modern Text Confucianism has always insisted that [the Five Classics in the early Han Dynasty were all complete versions].

After all, once there are flaws in the Five Classics, they need to be corrected.

Doing so is equivalent to handing over the right to interpret Confucian classics.

Therefore, although the dispute between ancient and modern times originated from the Five Classics, the key to the matter is no longer the authenticity of the ancient classics.

The reason why Zheng Xuan and his school of ancient Confucian scholars were so persistent was that they believed that the current Confucian classics were too rigid, full of prophecies and supernatural things, and had deviated from the original intentions of the ancient sages.

Therefore, the Classical Text School denounced the Modern Text School as a fabricated collection of prophecies and divinations, emphasizing the importance of textual exegesis in studying the classics and insisting on studying the meaning of the text itself.

For example, when Zheng Xuan was teaching, he never talked about "extraordinary, doubtful and strange theories" and "yin and yang disasters".

In their view, future generations may also have ideas and opinions that are different from Confucius.

It was precisely because of Zheng Xuan's teachings that Guo Yuan was able to make such bold remarks.

However, as soon as Guo Yuan said this, there was an uproar all around, and the scholars inside and outside the hall couldn't help but look shocked.

But Guo Yuan ignored all this. At this point in the debate, he knew that he had lost.

If we continue to argue, we will only bring shame to our sect.

Guo Yuan bowed to Bing Yuan to show who won and who lost, and then he said:

"Today's defeat is all due to my limited knowledge. I can't do without the 'Three Rituals'. Among my master's disciples, I am the most dull and crude. In the future, other brothers will surely come to seek guidance!"

Bing Yuan was not surprised to hear this. He would have been surprised if Guo Yuan had betrayed his master just because he lost a debate.

Therefore, Bing Yuan did not press him any further. Instead, he returned the greeting and then retreated to rest.

After all, even he was feeling quite exhausted at this moment after facing a debate of this intensity.

However, after the two protagonists Guo Yuan and Bing Yuan left the stage, Wei Zhe, as a spectator, stayed behind.

A moment later, in the library.

Wei Zhe curiously found the copy of the "Three Rituals Annotations" that had sparked the dispute, and flipped through it with curiosity...
-
Sorry for being late, but this chapter was so hard to write!
o(╥﹏╥)o Forget it, let’s go to sleep, good night!
(End of this chapter)